Diet and Blood Concentrations of Essential and Non-Essential Elements among Rural Residents in Arctic Russia
Sorokina T. Sobolev N. Belova N. Aksenov A. Kotsur D. Trofimova A. Varakina Y. Grjibovski A.M. Chashchin V. Korobitsyna R. Thomassen Y.
December 2022MDPI
Nutrients
2022#14Issue 23
Nutrition is an essential factor for human health. Earlier research has suggested that Arctic residents are vulnerable to environmental toxic exposures through traditional foods. Although Russia is the largest Arctic country, the evidence on the topic from the Russian part of the Arctic is scarce. We studied associations between blood concentrations of essential and non-essential elements and traditional food consumption in 297 adults from seven rural settlements in the Nenets Autonomous Area, Northwest Russia. Blood arsenic concentration was positively associated with consumption of rainbow smelt, pink salmon, Arctic char and navaga fish. Frequent consumption of northern pike was associated with increased concentration of blood mercury. Blood mercury and arsenic concentrations were significantly associated with blood selenium. We also observed positive associations between blood lead levels and the frequency of goose consumption. Moreover, subjects who reported to be hunters had higher blood levels of lead, suggesting contamination of goose meat with fragments of shotgun shells. Blood cobalt and manganese concentrations were inversely associated with serum ferritin levels. Positive associations between blood levels of manganese and lead were observed. Moreover, blood lead concentrations were significantly associated with cadmium, mercury, copper, and zinc. Our results corroborate earlier findings on the traditional foods as source of non-essential elements for the Arctic residents. Observed correlations between the levels of lead and other elements warrant further research and may have potential implications for the studies on the associations between essential elements and health outcomes.
country foods , dietary intake , indigenous population , iron status , nutrients , trace metals
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Arctic Biomonitoring Laboratory, Northern (Arctic) Federal University Named after M. V. Lomonosov, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dvini 17, Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russian Federation
Central Scientific Research Laboratory, Northern State Medical University, Troitskiy Ave., 51, Arkhangelsk, 163000, Russian Federation
N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dvini 23, Arkhangelsk, 163000, Russian Federation
Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
Department of Health Policy and Management, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan
West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University, Aktobe, 030019, Kazakhstan
Research Laboratory of Complex Problems of Hygiene and Epidemiology, North-Western State Medical University Named after I.I. Mechnikov, Kirochnaya ul. 41, Saint-Petersburg, 191015, Russian Federation
Institute of Ecology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Myasnitskaya Str. 20, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation
Arctic Biomonitoring Laboratory
Central Scientific Research Laboratory
N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research
Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies
Department of Health Policy and Management
West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University
Research Laboratory of Complex Problems of Hygiene and Epidemiology
Institute of Ecology
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